Dallas Mavericks Blog

Dirk Nowitzki gets a nice message from Larry Legend

Dirk Nowitzki was on the Mavericks’ bus to the Orlando airport when his phone vibrated and he saw the text from Larry Legend.
It was a congratulatory message from Larry Bird, the man Nowitzki passed on Tuesday night for 25th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.
“That’s pretty cool,” Nowitzki said.
Pretty cool, indeed. Bird has been a fan of Nowitzki’s throughout his career and Nowitzki said he feels privileged and humbled by passing Bird. He’s also not going to spend too much time thinking about it.
“It’s obviously an unbelievable accomplishment to be in the top 25 scorers in this amazing league with so many amazing players,” Nowitzki said. “But it’s going to mean more to me when my career’s done. When I’m 15 or 20 years from now, I can look back and it’s something I’ll be proud of. But as of now, I’m still chasing the dream and trying to win a championship. But it’ll be a sweet one in 20 years.”
Nowitzki also said that the Mavericks have plenty to be proud of, not only for sweeping Florida on a quick trip, but also for their 10-1 road record.
“Two great teams down here, but we’re more focused on the road, more together on the road and we showed it the last two nights,” he said.
–Eddie Sefko